William Hudson sat on a stool in the Wetherby Park playground Tuesday, contemplating the day’s lunch menu.
“The fruit was good,” the 9-year-old decided.
Hudson and around 50 other kids eat lunch free-of-charge at the park Monday through Friday as part of the Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County’s summer lunch program.
From June 14 through July 30, the organization offers breakfast and lunch to Iowa City children every weekday through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program. The group is reimbursed by the Agriculture Department in the same way that schools are reimbursed for offering free and reduced-cost lunches during the school year, although the summer program is not affiliated with the Iowa City School District.
In the decade that the neighborhood centers have offered free lunch, said Sue Freeman, the program director of the Broadway Neighborhood Center, the numbers have steadily risen. The program started with only the Broadway and Pheasant Ridge Centers, but now has five locations, serving around 400 lunches daily.
“It’s critical that these kids get nutrition during the summer, too,” said Sarah Swisher, an Iowa City School Board member. “This program is vital for their ability to grow and be healthy.”
Freeman agreed.
“It’s really challenging for low-income families that rely on the school district for food,” she said. “In the summer, it’s not there; kids are active, and they’re hungrier.”
Roughly 29 percent of children in the School District qualified for free and reduced lunches in the 2009-10 academic year. More than 30.5 million kids nationwide received low-cost or free lunches in 2008, according to the Agriculture Department.
Breakfast is served from 8:15-8:45 a.m. at the Broadway Center and the Pheasant Ridge Center. Lunch is served from noon-12:45 p.m. at Wetherby Park, Fairmeadows Park, the Pheasant Ridge Center, Breckenridge Estates mobile home park, and Forest View Trailer Court.
“It’s a great outreach program for the community,” said Stephanie Schmitt as she served drinks.
Schmitt, who graduated from the University of Iowa in December 2009, will begin a job as a high-school American literature teacher in Rock Falls, Ill., after spending the summer working at the Broadway Center.
The food-service program is staffed by employees of the Broadway and Pheasant Ridge Centers, as well as members of the AmeriCorps VISTA program.
“It’s a great opportunity to get the underprivileged from the community who don’t get a whole lot of chances to participate in activities,” said Elliott Lammer, a UI senior majoring in elementary education. Lammer is volunteering through a 10-week VISTA program.
The program provides nutritious options, Freeman said. Breakfasts consist of dry cereal, milk, and fruit. Lunches provide cold meat sandwiches, fruit, and vegetables.
“It’s a nice way to know kids are getting healthy food,” she said.
For those providing the meals, the program is about more than just lunch.
“Our goal is that every child in our neighborhood can say ‘I went to summer camp,’ ” Freeman said.
In addition to serving summer lunches, Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County and VISTA staff take kids on field trips to such places as the Iowa City Public Library, the UI Museum of Natural History, Kinnick Stadium and the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center for swimming lessons.
“They teach us how to kick our feet and do this,” the 9-year-old Hudson said, windmilling his arms above his head.
The summer program is “fun, not boring,” said Hudson, who will begin the fourth grade at Twain Elementary in August.
“When you get grounded, it’s boring,” he said. “This isn’t like that.”